Chocolate packaging

Marou chocolate wrapper; Image credit:Karen Thiessen, 2015

When you walk six hours a day, you can eat chocolate. While in Portland, Oregon we did both. One day we stumbled across The Meadow in the Nob Hill neighbourhood. The shop sells artisanal chocolate, salt, and bitters & mixers. I have never seen so much Himalayan pink salt in my life. The chocolate selection was impressive: it compares to that of Fog City News in San Francisco. I confess that I bought chocolate based on its packaging. The Marou bars were affordable, so I bought four different colours, er, flavours.

Raaka chocolate wrapper; Image credit:Karen Thiessen, 2015

The Raaka chocolate was more expensive, so I only bought one bar. I love the pattern: it is one that I've drawn in my sketchbook over the years. I wish chocolatiers would consider selling tasting-sized bars. E. Guittard used to sell tiny chocolates so that you could sample a variety of their single-source chocolates before committing to a regular-sized bar. If Raaka had sold tasting-sized bars, I would have bought more of their patterns, er, flavours.